Criminal Justice in the United States

The Role of a Criminal Defense Attorney

Being a criminal defendant is a lonely experience. Given the biased structure of criminal law, it is critically important for a defendant to have a true advocate. Being a true advocate requires the ability to understand and communicate the essential truths of the case in legal and human terms so that the defendant's circumstances will be understood by the judge or the jury.

Attorneys Eugene G. Iredale and Julia Yoo have strong opinions — based on their decades of practice as criminal defense lawyers — about the nature of the criminal justice system and the importance of their roles as defense attorneys.  The criminal justice system in this country is often draconian.  It is unfair to people who are truly innocent.

We send too many people to prison in this country, and especially in California. The United States imprisons more citizens than any other country in the world — both per capita and in terms of absolute numbers. China, for example, has four times the population and imprisons one-quarter of the number of citizens that the United States does.